Jesse Tyler Ferguson

The Craig Ferguson Fancy Rascal Stand Up Tour continues throughout twenty twenty four. For a full list of dates and tickets, go to the Craig Ferguson Show dot com slash tour. See you out there, the Greig Ferguson show dot Com slash Tour. My name is Craig Ferguson. The name of this podcast is Joy. I talk to interest in people about what brings them happiness. You probably know my next guest from his work on Modern Family. But let me tell you this. Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and he's one of

I have my own podcast now that I'm going to talk about. Oh yeah, that's always the thing. When it's like a friend of mine, I was.

Like, oh, I'm gonna, yeah, we're rolling out somebodyeah talk.

About something like they might you know, I not want to talk about.

But ilwa was try just I mean I would try you in a position today, Well you talk about something you don't want to talk about. But there's very little that I won't talk about. But you know, the truth is as well, I think that it's it's I don't want to do that to people anyway. Yeah, so why would you do it in a like I'm not a journalist of course. Now tell me about something you're so ashamed of. Yeah, like, I don't I want to hear that from you.

Got to get that question now, I don't know what it would be.

Okay, Then tell me something you're really ashamed of. Yeah, I don't.

I don't want to talk about that right now.

You I've always been jaious of you for two reasons. Tell me, Well, one your Broadway Royalty, which is I think a great thing to be. I just admirable and aspirational. And the other thing is, you know, not just Jesse Ferguson, you're Jesse Tyler.

Yeah, there's already a Jesse Ferguson, and yeah, I figured it might be that. Yeah, So I had to go with my middle name, and I'm named after my grandmother, so I really wanted to keep the Jesse.

I like the name Jesse.

Yeah, this is nice name.

And I wanted kids and that I grew up with to know that I had succeeded because I was bullied a lot as a kid.

You surprised me. You from Montana or something.

I'm was born in Montana, raised in Albuquerque, Okay. And I was just not very popular, you know. I was a sort of an awkward kid, and I was pretty ruthlessly bullied. And then when I made well, I you know, became very successful, and the thing that I wanted to do, I wanted all the assholes who bullied me to know that I'd made it.

So I kept Ferguson.

So they're going to remember that name, Jessica when I throwned the tyler.

So it's funny because have you ever met the head of the Ferguson clan name? No, he's a friend of mine, No really, yeah yeah yeah. His name is Adam. He lives in a place called cal Karen, which is the seat of the Ferguson name in Ayrshire and Scotland and island Tom. He's spectacular, that's fascinating.

I have him.

When my grandmother passed away, I took a book from our house and it was all about the Scottish Tartans and I she had a little squatch of fabric from the Ferguson Tartan so I.

Have that you don't have a kilt in the Ferguson tartan.

I don't, I don't. I should get one made.

I feel like I feel like I know what's coming from.

Let me tell you what though, I feel like the Ferguson tartan is the same as the private school uniform that I had to grow up wearing our Lady of Fatima, and I think, I mean, it's listen, it was.

It's a very lovely tartan. But like that's what it will remind me of.

But maybe it's time. Maybe it's time to let it go.

Yeah, to let it go and like reclaim.

Reclaim the reclaim the plaid. I feel like, actually that that sounds like a rallying cry right, reclaim the plaid. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I might be doing that for fashion Week this year, reclaiming the plaid. Yeah, I'm reclaiming the plaid. It's funny because when I think of you growing up in Albuquerque, because you look like a lot of guys that I grew up with. You, you have the coloring and the complex and of a lot of people I grew up with in Albuquerque. Must have been tough for someone of your.

My my skin tone of right, I'm not the greatest place to raise the right head, well.

Redhead in the sun like that. Then you were bullied at school, I'm amazed you're not a stack up community. It sounds traumatic. Was it really bad?

Do you think it was pretty bad? Yeah? It was pretty bad.

In fact, when I was in grade school in my eighth grade year, I well, right before my eighth grade year, I told my parents was like, it's really blea good. Yeah, well they actually changed I changed schools.

Listening to you, did it help?

Yeah, I mean it was nice to be relocated to a different like a different pool of people. I was, you know, didn't like I didn't. It didn't change who I was. I was, you know, a very shy kid, so you know, I still wasn't super popular, but it sort of gave me a little bit of a relief

But it was a bigger pond, you know.

Right, so it was easier to escape you. Are you an observant Catholic?

No, no, no, no, no, all right, there's your coffee.

What did you get?

Just I like a thank you very much. It's just coffee. I like just a regular coffee. No sugar, no sugar, no milk. Two shorts of this spread. So but in a cup that normally has three.

Okay, okay, so that's a clever red eye.

Yeah that's right, it's a slightly let Do you want a cup of coffee?

No, I've had my I've had two today and.

Yeah, that's that's all I get. As well, this is my second, and then that's I get two cups. Ago. I have become that guy. Yeah, that used to be so bad. You never you never fail into that drugs and alcohol and all that kind of stuff. No, no, no, but I did cut back on drinking a lot this year.

Just you know, but your kids are young.

My kids are young, and I'm just I can't deal with a hangover. So my coffee intake has definitely opped.

Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever get like this is the sight of middle I think, do you ever get to the point where it's nighttime and you're excited, oh because morning's coming and you can.

Go, you know, Craig something. I wake up and I'm excited for night time.

I'm like, oh my god, in twelve hours, are going to be back in the same spot.

It'll be time again. Oh god. Absolutely, I get excited for breakfast. I mean that pathantic is that it's like, oh, I'm going to I can't eat late at night because I'll get you know, into gest but in the morning, I'm going to have such a breakfast right right right. So let me tell you that you're you're growing up in Albuquerque, in New Mexico, Yeah, right where they have

It's going to be especially in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There just wasn't a community there to sort of support that probably is not I would think more so now. Yeah, absolutely, you know, I think Albaque has changed a lot, and I I do. I do still I've always loved Albuquerque, even though I had a kind of tricky childhood there. But I do like going back and visiting. I've I've taken my kids for that. They have the largest international hot air Ballymfiesta there.

Yes, that's which.

Unbelievable. So I really like, I really like going back for that. I saw a family that lives there. I love the food there. I I have grown to sort of appreciate the state as as a as a nice place to visit now. But yeah, when I was a kid, you know that, especially as a theater kid, there wasn't a lot of opportunity.

There was a great we had a pretty great.

Community theater program, and I you know, I had auditioned for the shows. But in my my my high school didn't have a great theater program.

But you but you're a Catholic. There's plenty of theater in the Catholic church.

Oh my god.

You know, circumstance because I was raised as a Protestant Scotland. I mean we get you know, the wolves are painted why and maybe we get a heater in the church. Maybe don't. That's it. But you know, the Catholic kids, they go wow, they kind of scared me. Actually, was like, go the Korra.

I mean, looking back on it, I'm just you know, that was you know, I go to Mass every day. Every morning would start with and when I was in grade school, every morning would start with a Mass, you know, an abbreviated Mass, thirty minutes usually, but then we would go to Mass, take the Eucharist every morning every morning. Well, you know, after my first communion. Uh yeah, but I had my first communion, I was baptized, I did all that, all that stuff. And it's funny because my parents weren't.

About because you're a parent, you got little kids. I mean that sometimes changes people's perception of their religion and their upbringing. Sure, what do you think.

Well, we aren't a religious family, you know, just since what didn't go to church. But you know, I think that it's sad thing of as I'm as I'm teaching my kids, you know, I'm learning that you know, certain ideas that I'm trying to teach them are rooted in like my faith and certain things are rooted in like just my my who I am as a person. Now, you know, I meditate a lot and I like to I'm spiritual, I guess in a different way. So you know a lot of those a lot of those ideas

And I enjoyed points.

It's so it's so adorable, and my parents saved it and they pas down to me and so we put it out every year.

But it's just like weird thing.

It's you know, my kids don't know what it is. I'm like, well, this is the baby Jesus. I'm like, what am I talking about?

But I love all the tradition of all. I mean, I think I feel like with religion, what I do now is I take what I want and I leave the rest. Yeah, and if anyone's got a problem with that, then they had a problem in the first place. Right, It's that whole thing of you know, a lot of people who are angry, they were angry before they even heard are you that's right? You know, so it's kind

Yeah, I get that.

Yeah, it's like, you know, all these theologians, Thomas of Aquina, Einstein, they were all wrong. But I'm right.

Right, right, I mean, I certainly I never thought of myself as an atheist, but I don't know, it's sort of I think it's okay to be uncategory and uncategorizable. I think that's okay, totally fine.

I think actually, with things that are going on right now in lots of areas of society. Huh. I think that that's actually good, it's healthy, because I was thinking that there. I was. I was thinking about, you know, what's the statute of limitations on gay because when I was eighteen nineteen years old, I gate for you, Yeah, how are you going to know something you like something unless you try? And I tried it thought well, it's okay, and I like the person involved, but it's not really

I think everything's on a spectrum, you know, So that's yeah. I know so many people who are very straight and have kids and have wonderful marriages, and you know, they dabbled a bit in high school and college, and you know, it's and.

The other way around. By the way, I know plenty of gay men who were straight.

Now, hey, now, now that's something I haven't done. Well, I've never dabbled.

Wow, you know, I look, if you're making fail.

I know, that's right, that's right, that's right.

Did you know right away you were like, oh gosh, this is what I'm dealing with.

Well, I don't necessarily know how to categorize it. But I knew that it was something that was not you know, growing up Catholic. You know, that's sort of all you hear about is like.

You know, anal It's.

Like, oh gosh, it just seems like it's something I'm not super interested in. Or I didn't see a place for myself in that, you know that in that arrangement. But like I I don't know if I knew that it was gay until you know, I was a little older.

But I wonder if do you think that's what I tried to do to theater and broadways because it has a lot of the drama and the pageantry and the ceremony even of Catholic church, but it famously much more accepting of gay people, right.

I mean perhaps I did like the you know at Christmas time, the live Nativity scene. Who does you know that the shows in church were really exciting. Yeah, but you know it was all about for me, like the production value. If it looked good, then I was into it, you know, I didn't want to look great.

Yeah.

I just find that so kind of it's something very wholesome about that. I think something lovely about it. Sure, So how did you how did you get from Albuquerque. To to broadly what happened.

I came to New York right after I graduated high school. I was accepted into a performance arts academy called the American Musical and Dramatic Academy. Uh And so my dad and I drove cross country and his suburban and we packed all my stuff up in the back seat. And it was like a four day road trip for me. You no, I know, he's so sort of him to drive me. And then we drove into Manhattan and the suburban. You know, my dad, it's you know, he's a used

And my dad's, you know, a rule follower.

You know, he's the type of guy that, like Hanks twice before backing up to make sure no one's behind him. You know this, this type of timid driving was not going to fly in Manhattan. So he dropped me off, we unloaded the car. I think he stayed a few days with me while I sort of settled in, and then he drove back to Albuquerque and left me behind in New York and did you feel.

Like you were you were where you were meant to be. Yeah.

You know, it's interesting. I had never even before I went to New York, I knew that's where I wanted to go. And I think part of it is just because I would watch the Tony Awards on TV and I knew that this place that had this incredible theater scene called Broadway was you know, it existed only in New York City, and I just I had I was aware enough of that that culture.

You know.

I had all these cast albums and I would collect the musical scores of these shows. Even though I didn't really play piano. I would just like to look at the photos and like, look at the sheet music, and I just had a great appreciation for the work that went into putting these shows on and I want to be a part of that in whatever capacity.

It is a real world into itself Broadway as well. It's fascinating that there are people who are big stars on Broadway that you know, cross the East River and you know, people are like, I'm sorry, I don't know who you were talking about, you know, I mean, it's it's I had.

To explain the other day to someone who Patty Lapone was, and I was like, I'm sorry, I don't know if I can do this.

Wait, yeah, but I think that it's quite an interesting thing because you there's somebody that there was anctor called, you know, Jim Dale, of course, and Jim Dale was a huge Broadway star, but in Britain. I knew him from doing these kind of cheesy comedies when I was a kid growing up. We used to that and I only heard years later he had become this force on on Broadway. It's such a such a strange thing. Well have you done there recently?

My most recent thing on Broadway was a play called Take Me Out, about a baseball team. The lead player, who's like a Derek Jeter type, comes out of the closet. That role was played by Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy Okay, who's a fantastic stage actress. It was his stage debut, and I played his business manager, who is a gay man who doesn't know anything about baseball and then falls in love with the game. C It's a beautiful play written by Richard Greenberg.

Who.

Is such a lover of baseball, and I had these amazing soliloquies about baseball and how they're so you know, it's like democracy, and how it's.

A weird game. It's an interesting thing because it does contain something that I don't think other sports do. Yeah, it's weird. I feel that about baseball.

It's that thing of first of all, it's lonely sport. You know, you're not you're playing kind of by yourself. You each have your own positions. And then it's something else that there's no clock, which is so interesting. You know, there's no countdown. It's you have this moment on the plate and you have Everyone has the same opportunity and the same chance to achieve something, and they're given the

When I became an America uh huh, it was about baseball was the thing that I've think explained America to me, okay in a way that I didn't understand before, and why I was so attracted to it. And here's what it is. It is Failure is unnecessary and probably the majority of what you will do is fail And it doesn't matter if you can swing at the ball and head it one time out of ten, you're a Hall of Fame. Yeah, And I thought, oh my god. Yeah, So if you fail, it's just part of the process.

Very emotional sports.

It is right and the idea of when you have you you've been to games, right, so you know that they particularly actually in the Midwest or in the West where the sun hangs forever, and there's that vibe. It's a very it's like it has a it has a spiritual quality about it, which I've never been able to achieve watching other sports. It's it's amazing. Yeah, it's a great a theater about it. Yeah, spiritual theory. The Craig Ferguson Fancy Rascals stand up to her continues throughout the

It's what do you find hard about it? Finding the time or just calming your body down?

Are both?

You know? I feel like what it is is that when I try and meditate, I do. I do do it, and I try and do it every day. It's I kind of put a value on it, like that was a good meditation that was it worked then or it didn't work then. But I suspect that's probably not the correct go about that.

I think that's right right, Well, you said right there, you know the correct way. I don't think there is a correct way to do it. But the type of meditation that I started practicing was TM transcendental meditation that I'm actually dead. Director David Lynch set up a foundation here in Los Angeles because he became so enamored with this type of meditation and he wanted to make it accessible to everyone, you know, kids and people who were

So I had to sort of carve it.

It was when I was shooting Modern Family, and so I had to really make sure I had It was my hiatus week and I didn't have any other work to do, so I was able to clear out some afternoons to do it.

But you know, they what it requires of you is.

Twenty minutes in the morning and twenty minutes in the evening or the late late afternoon. And to be completely honest, I've not been great about doing it twice a day, and I'm trying to get back into the habit and I feel like what I need right now is a refresher course.

Is there a lot of instruction required.

That's the thing.

I mean, you're you're, you're, you're assigned to mantra, and you know, they teach you how to do it. And I learned in a group of people and then I had sort of one on one sessions as well. But it's really just quieting your body down, repeating this mantra in your head and then coming into the state. And it does take practice to sort of tune out the noise.

I'm not that good.

I'm fascinated by that because I became kind of and you know, I've been sober for a very long time, so you know, prayer meditation is something that comes up and there's an essential part of it and I've always been fighting with because it was raised in Judeo Christian you know environment. I'm like, prayer is fighting like you say sorry and move on, and you're so big and

I mean I think that, you know, living here in Los Angeles, that's certainly a trope to fall into. You know, if people here that you live in LA and you meditate. Oh boy, okay, well we know what you know.

Well, we know how much kill you get through. And I don't live in LA anymore.

Where do you live now?

Well? New York and Scotland mostly. Really, I'm here to do this, I well, this this podcast thing that I do. I made a rule for myself that I wouldn't do any of them remotely, that I would sit across. I'm so glad you. Yeah, well you do that with your person as well. Difference I think it does because I think during COVID when we all go into doing the Zoom stuff because now they do pictures by Zoom all the time.

Pitches by Zoom, auditions by Zoom.

It's crazy.

Yeah.

Do you hear the scandal recently about fake auditions on Zoom? No? Oh, this is amazing. So a bunch of agents apparently again in trouble because they're saying that their clients or you're up for this big role, but you have to put your cell phone tape. They're not up for the big rule. But the clients put them cell phone tape. I think they've got a shot. So the agent looks like they're getting them these good things.

I just said no to putting myself on tape for something.

Well, come on, you're Jesse Tyler, fucking fair.

Talk about this.

It was like the role and it's it was being directed by an actor who I very much admire is also starring in it, and the role to me on paper, I only read the sides was sort of gay best friend one on one like there wasn't anything.

Super interesting about it. But it was a well written part.

It was sure not bad at all, and I was only would have entertained the their job before it was offered to me, but he wanted me to put myself on tape ten pages of this sort of gay best friend one on one on tape, and I said, you know, I just feel like, after eleven years of Modern Family and Tony Award, like, I just feel like, when is it? When have I proven myself? And I just said I'm not going to do it. And they said, well, he really needs to see see it. And I said, okay, well,

Or he just offered to you?

But you know it's that look. I've directed things as well, and I've I've done this into my shame. I shouldn't have done it. But it was a long time ago. But I asked for people to audition that I know they could do them. Yeah, I knew. I knew they could do the part and they would be great in the part. But I was the director and I was you know, I was being I was being a deck quite frankly.

I don't mind auditioning for things, especially I feel like if I feel like, uh, it's thing that I'm not sure I can do because I want to make sure that we're on the same page, that's.

Well, you're a proper, growing up actor who's no epetulant when it comes to edition, because that's what I think I was doing. It was like I was making people addition, it was some kind of weird parapley. I mean, it was a long time agoing out. I don't do that because direct and you've directed right a little bit. Yeah, yeah, I don't love it. Did you enjoy it?

I didn't mind it. It's not my passion. I haven't directed anything of great importance.

But you know, it's interesting because I thought for a while it was like, I think I could actually direct some episodes Modern Family, and Julie Bowen was the only cast member who actually directed us. And I ended up

I just couldn't do it. But yet I think I would have been really good at it.

So I think, well, it changes the family dynamic. I mean, if you were in a cast that long, it's a kind of familial sh and it.

Would have been nice to be surrounded by people who trusted me and the crew that already I already knew. And the thing is, Julie Bowen did a great job.

I could see Julie being great. She's so organized, she's a very good let's get it done. She was great. Yeah, I can imagine she would be. She has a podcast as well, of course she does. Yeah, I think who does. It's a bit like having a tattoo or our blog stage. Yes, tell me about your podcast that you do. Then dinner with dinners on me? Dinner's on me. People eat food from your naked.

Body, not dinners on me physically.

Honest, thataway, like it's like the people eat from you.

Although yeah, that could be an interesting twist. No, dinner's on me meaning I pick up the bill or rather

I was like, well, he's a director.

He's a director.

But That's what I love about my podcast is it is feels very it feels very fly on the wall. You feel like at this you're the third chair at this table and you're having lunch with us or dinner with us. And I love that you hear the way to come over with the table and get the specials and you hear about our dietary restrictions, and like it's just a normal dinner service except for it happens to be recorded.

You go to like Chili's and all of dark, or you go to like.

Fancy usually we'll not always super fancy.

I you know, I took Weird All Yankovic was a recent guest and he's vegan, and I took him to uh Cafe Gratitude here in Los Angeles, which is, you know, a very casual dining place that has amazing vegan food. Uh, and obviously he had been there before. And then I took Sophia Vagara to Dante, which is this beautiful new restaurant on top of the hotel.

In Beverly Hills.

So you know, it's just sort of a mix of where I think these people would enjoy and restaurant. I choose it with sometimes the help of my guests, and I try and match up, like where I think they might like to go.

I'm going to tell you no Yankovic story. Tell me so favorite. I love this. So out comes to visit me in Scotland, this very old house in Scotland, and just before your eyes, I'm in the basement slash dungeon of this old house and I find an accordion, an old ACCORDI like an old, fancy accordion, and I bring it up the stairs and and Al arrived like later that day, and he's like, oh yeah, this is a

That's incredible.

But it was like I couldn't believe it an accordion, and then I'll arrived. It had a spiritual.

Compati is incredible.

MESSI Al Yankovic. I think it's like amazing happened that. I just I really told you the story to let you know that Al Yankovic show enough.

I met him for the first time at his house in Hawaii. I don't know if he was if it was his house, if he was renting it, or if he actually.

Oh yes, because the reason was in Scotland is because the volcanic ash thing was going on Hawaii and he couldn't go.

There, gotcha, Yeah, okay, yeah, yeah yeah yeah.

So the only reason I so you went to his houseband Hawaii? Yeah? Yeah.

He and Eric Stone Street were kind of buddies. Uh. Eric was a music video of his Yeah.

And Eric and I happened to be in not only in Hawaii, but at the same resort with our significant others at the time. Mine I went on to marry who's not my husband, but Eric was. I was dating his the girlfen he was dating at the time, So we were all at the same resort. And uh, I mean just totally by happened. Chance happened, stance happened, chance happen.

It's probably correct. Chance stands is. I was like, you're about to start a number. Yea happened by Yeah.

Yeah.

I have a real good habit of making up boards and mispronouncing things all the time.

Don chance.

Uh So anyways, Eric like, do you want to go have dinner with Alan Susan his wife, And uh, I was like, yeah, let's let's meet them, and he all went out to dinner together.

It's such a sweet, sweet guy. Yeah, he's lovely. He's really a lovely man. So let's talk a little bit a bit more than family then, because it's come up a couple of times, it's one of those like it'll be a legacy thing for you for your entire life. No, of course. I mean it's like me doing the late night show is like, no matter what you do, it's going to committed the conversation. It doesn't matter what you do.

It felt I mean, I'm sure you felt the same way when you were doing your show. You know, when you're in the bubble of it, you just kind of got to.

Do the job.

Ye's every day.

Yeah, It's interesting because now we've been off the air for almost four years, and I find that a new group of a new generation of people are discovering it and or people haven't been watching or like watching it again. I feel like there's a new wave of I don't know, I'm receiving a lot of love from it from strangers in a way that I hadn't before.

It's a great show, which is oh, well.

Thank you.

I mean, I'm really proud of it, but I I think now that like I'm out of it, I really feel, oh gosh, this is kind of a big thing, and I can compare it to the shows that I grew up watching that I love so much, like Friends and Will and Grace and uh, you know Steinfeld, Like I adore these shows, and I was like, oh, guy, I guess I am that for for a lot of people. I am that that thing, or I was part of that show for a lot of people. But when it was, when it was happening, it just felt like, you know,

Be interested that comes back because you had kids on that show. Of course, kids do what they do as they grow up and grow up, and then everyone's like, wait, why isn't Manny And Manny's like six foot five with a bad.

Well, you know, and like, I still keep in touch with Aubrey who played my daughter on the show, and they're still close, and I've gone I went to her school play a few months ago, and I'm going to go to her school musical that's coming up soon, and I love supporting her. Her mom was like, you don't you know, that's really sweet of you to come to this. It's like, I feel like, you know, I'm proud of her. I met her when she was three years old, and I have a three year old now, and it's like I

You know, it's very special, it's nice. It is nice. It's a funny thing though, as you mentioned it with children, because now you know you're a very busy parent and that very busy part of parenting, which in my experience so far, there isn't a not busy part of parenting. You'll never sleep well again ever, Like my oldest is coming up on twenty three. I'm like, oh, it's okay, Yeah, trying to go to sleep, and I hope he's okay.

I kind of hope. I always feel that way.

Yeah, I guess. But the thing is it changed me as a person alone, becoming Did you just stop drinking when I was twenty nine? Oh okay, so this is before kids. Oh yeah, I was ten years sober before my son was Wow. So like I survived and I go better. The ten years before is one. But I don't think I became anyone I really would like to be until at least my first kid came along. And then I was like, okay, wait, wait a minute, I chan used to lot. Did it do it to you? Yeah.

I mean the Oscars were last night and Emma Stone one Best Actress and she said something about her daughter, who I think she said it was three, and she's like, you know, our world is technical her now. I was like, oh god, that's so, that's exactly what it is.

Yeah. Yeah, I get nostalgic for the kids shows that I used to watch, Like when Mila was very young, I used to watch Teley Toby's with him and I was like, oh my god, I wish I still smoked. Yeah, it's be great and it's like and I still remember all the Talley Toby's names. Is that still a thing?

I think that was so now, but it's like vintage.

Yeah, yeah, it's it's like maybe the cool two year old watch Toby's. That's right. I don't know. I loved it. I mean it was it's so ahead of his time. Well, if you look at it, lacky, it's crazy.

It is made for people who are on Hashi ship.

I think so. I think there was a lot of hash involved in the development of that. You were never called to any of that. Where are you drugs and alcohol and everything? No.

I partake in weeds sometimes, but mostly it's like it's you know, very very casually and.

Weeds like having a podcast. Yeah, Cannon does it. I don't. I actually I'm very I'm no good around it.

Yeah, weed, people aren't.

I get angry about it because I'm in New York a lot and it's the street stink of it.

Yeah yeah, oh yeah, I know. Now that it's legalized, it's kind of everywhere.

And I'm like, and I see an old fashioned drunk with a bottle of you know, touching a paper bag and a paper bag and why does he have to hide Yeah, his scouch in a paper bag and he smoked weed, and everybody else I guess to inhale it or people will go cigarettes get annoyed. But if it's weed, they're like, oh yeah, you know.

I mean I was young enough when I moved to New York that I still remember, you know, it was legal to smoke inside restaurants.

Oh yeah, that was the era I.

You know, where there was a smoking section and you know, it didn't really matter.

I can remember smoking sections on airplanes, yes, like oh my god, the idea absolutely so dangerous, dangerous.

Like oh no, can we why do airplanes still have the little cigarette dispensers because.

They're old, they look new.

And I just feel like they they're creating new airplanes with these little.

Well maybe they maybe there are certain markets in the world where you're like smoke. I don't think.

I don't think so.

I think what it is is they're not new. They're clean, right, okay, I think. I mean they're not on the seats. That's when it's really old. But like in the bathrooms there's like the ones on the door. Sometimes it's as fascinated by that. Maybe I don't know. I was on a plane yesterday, which I didn't No, I don't think I saw any cigarette anything, but they do say that thing about you know, I had a friend of theater rector actually who who couldn't take a long flight without sneaking

I'm like, there's some sort of a smoke detector in there.

That he says that if you put your head right inside the bathroom, and I'm like, no, no, that's so dangerous. But but you never you smoke a little weed and that's it.

Mostly audibles too.

Yeah, that's the way people do it now. I couldn't do it. Any kind of cannabis product made me very antsy.

Yeah, just sometimes tells me sleep.

Yeah, well you got your meditation for that now. Plus you don't get to sleep now. Now you've got kids, young children. Do you have theatrical ambitions for your children? Do you have any rooms about that?

Oh?

It's you know because I I it's interesting because I I was just talking about Aubrey, who I met when she was Beckett's age, And I can't imagine, first of all, doing the show Modern Family without Aubrey. I can't imagine that, right, So, yeah, she's part of the experience. But I also can't imagine bringing Beckett into an audition. I just don't think you, first of all, would do that. Well, like, he's a

Kid, I think. So I wouldn't let my boys do it. Yeah, And both of them were interested, and I'm like, nah, really, the youngest ones.

What age did they show interest?

Well, they were around it all the time.

You know.

I mean it was like I had I mean, I had the Wiggles on Late Night show because Milo liked him when he was two, right, you know, it was like they were always always been part of the family dynamic. And I said, you know, Milo, who's twenty three now, and is you know this, he graduated at SVA and animation and he has his own animation studio and he's you know, he's uh so, he's so in that world that I kind of said, no, not until you decide to be in it. But he did decide to go

So for me it was theater was something that brought me out of my shell. Like I saw a play with my mom when I was very young. I remember sitting in the audience thinking, oh, I don't want to be sitting in the audience. I want to be on stage doing them what they're doing for the people in the audience. And I asked my mom if I could join the local I mean, it was a community theater group wasn't anything professional, but like, uh, you know, I think she was sort of shocked that I wanted to

Well, it can be very painful. The rejection thing and the idea that that I mean, look, everyone, everyone swings and missus. Everyone you know, experiences rejection and business everyone. Yeah, but I just couldn't bear it for my children, the idea that they uh, you know, someone somebody would let them know they went right, the right, right, Like I couldn't be all. But maybe that's more about me than as about we had.

You know, we our cast of Modern Family won four SAG Awards, I think for our second, third, fourth, and fifth season Aubrey again in place. My daughter joined us, I think on the third season, so she had two SAG Awards, you know, like that's she was six and she had two SAG Awards, like the collective weight of the both awards were double her weight.

It's a human being.

And I remember the year we didn't win, uh for the first time, she was very upset. She cried and she was like she climbed on her mom's lap and she was bawling. And I feel like it was Francis McDermot, who was sitting at the table next to us.

I think it was the year of like no mad Land or one of the one of the shows she won.

And she looked over at Aubry because uh, disappointment only gets worse as you get older, like she was so.

Jaded by it all, and I just thought, well, it's true. Yeah, but I guess what you learn to do when you're older is is you compartmentalize and it's not personal. And I mean to any degree, I mean not always, but I mean look, when I hear no, I'm still not great. Yeah, yeah, I mean I'm still so I won't even ask. It's like, no, I don't. I don't ask because I might hear no. I think that it's it's a good thing though, for a for a parent to try and protect children from

May I don't think so, I mean who knows. But I know when Justin and I first, you know, told our family that we were pregnant, were like, you know, no iPads, no screens in this house, and of course not and you know, yeah, good luck with that, right, And I'll.

Never ever meet a better parent than somebody who's just about to have their first kids.

I know, you know, these these things that we think we're gonna do.

It's but anyway, Yeah, we definitely pivoted quickly. And I don't think that I do anything super controversial.

Uh uh, they're they're you know, I mean, well, I guess look, you're you're you're a two daddy family, is they say in the in the.

Elementary schools in LA. That's no controversial around here, though, was it?

I don't think so.

That's as parts of it, maybe maybe further further into the.

Yeah, yeah, I mean he said.

Becket did ask us about you know, a mom, like where like why do some people have moms and some people don't?

You know? It was It's interesting, I guess, because do you have to try and explain I don't know how. I mean, look, I haven't been in the position. I don't know what does one do. Well.

We just explained that there are different types of families and so people have you known want a beach, and some people have just one mom one dad, and some people have two dads and two months.

Yeah, he gets it.

I think that's all you didn't need to do. I think to go too much deeper than that.

Yeah, we went a bit like that because Megan and I got married when Milo was uh, well we got together when he was four, so he's very young and didn't quite understand the like, well, how come mom lives over there? Megan's like mom, but she lives in the house year And there was a great book about it. There's a couple of good kid books about it, and there's lots of different Love Makes Families or something some

You know, our youngest is obsessed with Lama Lama, Red Pajama and it's this it's this pretty famous book, but you know it's all about Mama Mama and the Lama Mama Lama and write pajama and too much trauma. He's crying, but it keeps repeating the Mama, Lama Lama, Yeah, Mama where's my Mama? And but he loves the book, and so like I was like, well, yeah, we're going to read this book because I'm not going to like change it to Papa for that, because the whole rhyme is

Good for you. That's a well trained actor, you know, respect the text, find the way to make it work. Don't go change in the text the act. Yes, it's right, right, Yeah, that's right. I remember having an interesting discussion with the Night the Ones about this classic, like my character wouldn't say that, yes, I had written the part, okay, And I said, well, that's the character I wrote. So if your characters wouldn't say that, you're playing the wrong guy, right, right, right.

I try to. Yeah, I'm really bad at dialects, but you know that's mixed up.

Man. I love I love doing Danny and the Dinosaur. U there was. There's a line and that I still remember because I always a suggestive. A carry On movie, there's a line in it where a woman says to the dinosaur who helps her with her groceries. She said, oh, thank you for helping me with my bundles, said a lady. And I used to and I don't know why I get such and I can still do Curious George by her. Oh yeah, yeah, because I was on the road a

Who did the audio book? You should do it?

You should recorded you know why? I can do another one. Yeah, I'll do it for nothing. Yeah, I'll do it to be should for the coffee, right, yeah, right, right right. It's a joy to speak to you. You're You're such a lovely man. I enjoyed even though you're one of the fancy tyler Ferguson's as opposed to just an old fashioned Ferguson, you seem to still keep your feet on the ground.

I know where, but I know where you came from.

Yeah, I know where you came from. Yeah, yeah, you should go there one day.

I can't wait.

Yeah. Yeah, you'd love it. They'd love you.

You know.

They live in this big, giant old country estate in Scotland, the original Ferguson's. They're still there. I've got to go. I should. You'd love it.

Take the kids.

Yeah, it'd be a fun thing.

Yeah, I've been. I've been to Ireland, but not Scotland. Next d of my family's Irish, right, yeah, the Doyle side.

Yeah, I've got that too. Yeahs yeah it is. But it's great to see.

Good to see you.

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